In recent years, unmanned driving has been widely followed by all sectors. On the one hand, there is a wave of listings of unmanned driving companies, and on the other hand, commercial applications are accelerating. In the process of advancing commercial applications, open-pit mining is considered one of the most representative scenarios.
According to the “Open-pit Coal Mine Driverless Technology Application Development Report” released by the China Coal Industry Association, the number of driverless mining trucks in open-pit coal mines is expected to reach 2,500 in 2024, an increase of more than 120% from 1,131 in 2023. 2024 has become the first year of unmanned commercialization of China’s open-pit mines.
Regarding the development of unmanned mining trucks by 2025, Lin Qiao, Vice President of Strategy at ECOVACS ROBOTICS, told China Business News that the number of unmanned mining trucks in China will exceed 5,000 by 2025, and the penetration rate of unmanned driving in new mining trucks will reach 20%.
2024 marks the commercialization of unmanned mining.
In the past few years, the domestic mine unmanned driving industry has set off a wave of financing boom. However, at that time, most companies in the industry focused on technology research and development, and had not yet formed a large-scale commercial landing.
In 2024, China’s mining unmanned driving ushered in the first year of commercialization. In terms of the number of vehicles, the number of unmanned driving mine trucks in open-pit coal mines alone reached 2500, a 120% increase from 2023. At this point, in the eyes of miners, unmanned driving in mines is no longer a demo for testing, but has become an important lever for real productivity and intelligent transformation; in the unmanned driving track, everyone’s inherent understanding of the small track and small scene in the mining scene is also undergoing a transformation. The mining scene has become one of the first to land in a large scale, truly solving the difficult points and pain points of the scene. In this scene, everyone can truly see the concrete value of unmanned driving in mines.
At the same time, traditional production in open-pit coal mines faces difficulties and pain points such as safety production, difficulty in recruiting workers, and high labor costs. Intelligent transformation is an inevitable trend. Unmanned driving in open-pit mines has the characteristics of high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, and is a typical new productive force.
According to incomplete statistics, since 2020, the central and local governments have issued more than 20 policies, regulations, and related documents to promote the development and application of unmanned mining technology. Therefore, unmanned driving has the underlying support and market demand for large-scale development.
Lin Qiao believes that the reason why unmanned mining will achieve a breakthrough development in 2024 is mainly because it solves the three major pain points of safe operation, continuous and efficient operation, and cost reduction. At the same time, he believes that the scale application of unmanned driving has promoted the rethinking of the top-level design of the traditional mining industry, such as the accelerated introduction of policies and regulations, the establishment of intelligent standards, the adjustment of mining management standards, and the re-planning of talent development. At the same time, unmanned mining also plays a role in leading the intelligent transformation of the entire mine.
So what is the current situation in the industry? In response to this, Lin Qiao told the reporter that there are currently fewer unmanned mining trucks overseas, and the technology providers are mainly the original equipment manufacturers (Caterpillar and Komatsu account for more than 90%). In China, there are about 2,000 real mining vehicles and about 2,500 orders, mainly led by technology companies with high concentration. The top three companies account for nearly 80%, and the proportion of complete unmanned operation is about 55.3%. Extended range is the main energy type, and it is expected that pure electric will account for over 30% by 2025. In terms of tonnage, 90-100 tons is the mainstream because this tonnage can take into account new energy, localization, cost, and transportation efficiency.
Keywords for unmanned mining in 2025: strong supply and demand.
Some industry insiders believe that the reason 2024 has become the first year of commercialization of unmanned driving in mines is mainly due to the leading role of top enterprises such as Easy Control Intelligent Driving.
So as a representative enterprise in the industry, what development achievements will Yikong Intelligent Drive achieve in 2024? What are the supporting anchors behind the development? What will be the development trend of unmanned mining in 2025?
According to the data from the report on the development of unmanned driving technology in open-pit coal mines, Yi Kong Zhi Jia’s market share will reach 42.5% in 2024, ranking first in the industry. It is a typical representative enterprise in the field of unmanned driving in mines. In 2024, the development of Yi Kong Zhi Jia can be seen from the data: the number of empowered mining trucks reached 1000, accounting for 8.3% of the total number of new mining trucks in open-pit mines in 2024.
So what does 1000 units mean? Lin Qiao told reporters that this number should be viewed from two dimensions.
First, the annual sales volume of domestic mining trucks is about 15,000 units, and the penetration rate of 1,000 units is about 8% among them. Referring to the development trajectory of the automobile market, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is roughly at the level of 8% from 2020 to 2021, and this stage is the starting stage for its volume and development.
Secondly, from the perspective of intelligence, artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving, 1000 units is also a significant breakthrough. Taking the example of the number of unmanned vehicles deployed by RoboSense and Google, which is about 700 units, it has caused a great sensation. For the autonomous driving industry, 1000 units prove that unmanned driving can indeed become a commercial tool. Therefore, from these two dimensions, I believe it has great significance for the industry.
According to Lin Qiao, at present, the number of easy-to-control intelligent driving equipment is 1,000 units, and the total number of equipment in the entire industry is 2,000 units, of which 55% are unmanned operations. In 2025, the industry scale will reach 5,000 units.
"From the perspective of domestic regional distribution, the application of unmanned driving technology is constantly expanding. It is not only widely used in large-scale mining areas in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, but also in small and medium-sized mining areas in Hebei, Shandong and other places. I firmly believe that in 2025, this technology will usher in a full-scale explosion. In addition to the coal mining field, other types of small minerals will also be used, and the use of unmanned technology for open-pit mine transportation will become an industry consensus. He said.
In Lin Qiao’s view, at present, both the relevant technical capabilities and the commercial value of the products have basically matured. It can be foreseen that in the next three to five years, unmanned driving will also be widely recognized in the mining industry.
It is worth following that, EKZ Intelligent Driving has launched the third generation of distributed technology architecture - the ‘Zhuoshan’ unmanned mining solution, which includes a cloud for cluster-wide scheduling, autonomous decision-making and collaborative vehicles, and an unmanned driving line control development platform. This solution can systematically solve many difficulties and pain points in mining scenarios. For example, in response to the absolute safety requirements of mining, EKZ Intelligent Driving insists on comprehensive improvement from the perspectives of technical safety, process safety, and operational safety.
Looking ahead to the development of unmanned mining in 2025, EasyControl Smart Driving provides two key words. One key word is ‘booming supply and demand’. From the supply side, the stability of technology and products can meet the daily production needs of mines and have the ability of rapid replication; from the demand side, the intelligent, safe and green transformation of traditional mines is becoming increasingly urgent, and unmanned driving is a key part of it. At the same time, mine operators are beginning to recognize the production capacity of unmanned driving. Another key word is ‘AI increment’. With the support of AI, unmanned driving will bring new incremental opportunities, realizing double growth of the industry chain both horizontally and vertically.
(Source: China Business News)
Source: Eastmoney.com
Author: China Business Daily
